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This week, over on Velvet Ashes, the theme is “suitcase”. As global nomads, suitcases are a necessity, and it’s amazing how something so simple can get so many feelings rolling around inside of us.

Oliver, my dachshund and favorite child (he doesn’t talk back or ask for money) hates our suitcases, because he knows that it means we’re leaving. When we pull them out, he gets nervous and goes and sits in them, hoping that we’ll take him along. When Patrick was a baby, pulling out the suitcases made him jumpy and whiny, as though he knew that we would be going somewhere and he would be tired and confined to a carseat (we had him fly in his carseat until he was four).

Suitcases also mean new things, adventure and excitement. Packing to go to the US for a visit, packing to go on vacation, packing to go home to Ecuador…all of these things are exciting. When we moved here, packing our suitcases was the subject of endless debate. What to bring, what not to bring. Velvet Ashes asked this week for a packing list, and it got me all nostalgic, thinking about our first few times back and forth. So, in no particular order, here are the things that I would recommend that you pack in your suitcase if you are moving to Quito, Ecuador. This list is based on moving here from the US, since that’s where I came from. I can’t speak for moving there from another country.

-Clothing. Finding good quality clothing here is next to impossible, especially if you are tall or wear a larger size. And although we do have “US” brands such as Levis, the clothing is CRAZY expensive and very limited in selection. For children try to anticipate their growth and bring a couple of sizes up. Again, the options are basically either very cheaply made or crazy expensive.

-Shoes. Goes along with the clothing. My husband wears a size 11 shoe, not terribly large by US standards. Finding shoes for him here is ridiculously time consuming. The last time he had to have tennis shoes, it took us three months to finally find a pair in his size, and we paid about four times the amount that we would have in the US. And shoes for children are readily available, but either very cheaply made or very expensive.

-Electronics (computer, laptop, cell phone, e-reader): Electronics are available in Quito, but prices are two to three times higher than they are in the US. An unlocked cell phone can be used as you go back and forth between Ecuador and the US, and plans are ridiculously cheap. Also included in this would be accessories such as power cords. When the cord on my husbands’ MAC went out, we went to every MAC store in the city, only to be told that they don’t sell the power cords–just the computers. There is currently a 35% duty on electronics (you are allowed to bring in one personal computer, phone, etc. and the duty is charged on subsequent items) but often the cost of the item plus the cost of the duty is still less than the cost of buying it in Quito. Example: The Apple TV unit is $99 in the US. Add in the 35% duty at customs and you’re paying $135 to bring it in. A new Apple TV unit in Quito? $400.

-Toys. We have toy stores, but they fall into one of two categories–either very expensive or very cheap. There is no middle ground. If you have a child who loves Legos, Transformers, Barbies, etc. you should consider bringing some with you. Legos run an average of three times what they do in the US–that’s a lot of money for something that you’re going to step on in the middle of the night! Selection is also pretty limited, except around Christmas.

-Car seats. If you have a baby, you need to bring car seats with you. They are available in Quito, but are very expensive for a reputable brand. Other baby items such as cribs, strollers, highchairs, etc. are available and the cost is relatively reasonable.

-Medications. Bring at least six months of any medication that you take on a regular basis. Most medications are available in Quito, and the cost is much lower than in the US, however the brand names and dosages are not always the same. Having a six month supply on hand will allow you time to get settled and find a doctor who can help you figure out what meds you will need, what they are called and what the dosage is. If you have small children, consider bringing Benadryl and children’s cold medicine. Neither of these are available in Quito.

-A Magic Jack unit, or something similar. This device hooks into your wireless and allows friends and family to call you with a US phone number. The cost is something like $35 a year for the service, and is well worth being able to stay in contact with your loved ones, make necessary phone calls to US companies, etc.

-Craft supplies. If you are crafty, bring your supplies with you. There is very, very little available in Quito. If you like to sew, bring patterns with you, as they are not used or available in Quito. You can purchase fabric, notions and sewing supplies. If you have a machine that is anything other than a Singer or Brother (Bernina, Pfaff, Janome, etc.) bring accessories that you think you’ll need. None of these machines are sold in Ecuador and there is no service or support for them.

-Homeschool curriculum. If you are a homeschooler, bring all of your curriculum with you, as there is absolutely nothing available in Quito. There are a couple of homeschool co-ops where materials are exchanged, however you’ll need to plan on bringing the bulk of what you need.

-Your Kitchen Aid mixer. This is the one household appliance that you need to bring with you if you own one. They are available in Quito, but are VERY expensive.

-Sheets and towels. There are sheets and towels available in Quito, but they are quite expensive, and not very good quality. At present, the highest thread count sheet that you can buy is 300, and a King size set will cost you about $250. The same goes for towels–a medium quality bath towel will cost you between $25 and $30.

-A grill. If you can swing it, and you like to grill out, bring one with you. The majority of grills available in Quito are poorly made and very expensive. There are some very high quality grills available at some of the high-end decorating stores, but you’ll need to be prepared to pay thousands of dollars for them. And if you want specialty grilling tools or spices, bring those as well as you will not be able to find them.

-Seasonal decor, other than Christmas. Quito does not have a seasonal shift, so there are no fall decorations, etc. You’ll find that you want to change your house, even if the weather isn’t changing with you. Bring Halloween (if you celebrate it), Thanksgiving and Easter decorations.

What you DON’T need to bring…

Sometimes it’s helpful to know what you don’t need to bring. Here is a list of items that are readily available in Quito:

-Kitchen supplies. This includes dishes, baking supplies (The one exception to this is a donut pan.), cookware, kitchen utensils…all of these things are available in Quito, and there is a pretty wide selection.

-Decorative items. If you have a favorite item, by all means pack it, but there are home dec stores with a good selection of decorative and functional items. We have a store that is very similar to a Pier One that has a delightful selection of household decorative items.

-Small appliances. Again, a large selection is available (see note about Kitchen Aid mixer above).

-Bedding (other than sheets). Comforter sets, pillows and blankets are available in Quito and for the most part are very reasonable.

-Cosmetics. Most major makeup brands are available in Quito. They are somewhat more expensive, but not enough to justify taking up precious luggage space with products from the US.

-Christmas trees. These are available in Quito, and the prices are usually pretty reasonable. We also have an abundance of ornaments and other decorative items available, so just plan to bring the things that are special to you.

The grocery store is always a challenge. While we can get some US products, such as Aunt Jemima syrup and Hershey’s products, it’s not very reliable and things have been known to disappear and reappear with no rhyme or reason. You will most likely be able to find just about anything you want in the store, but it may be an Ecuadorian brand. Most of us have things that we bring back because we prefer the US brands. Ours personally are Peanut Butter M&M’s, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Hunts Ketchup, Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, Jif peanut butter and random grilling seasonings. For almost everything else, we have found that the Ecuadorian brands are not only acceptable, but in some cases better than what we get in the US. So my advice would be to bring one or two of the things that you really, really like, and then take the time to get to know what’s available here. We also have Asian grocery stores and a couple of high-end specialty stores that carry hard-to-find items.

This list is by no means complete, and I’ll call on my fellow Quitenians to add to it all of the things that they have found helpful in the comments. And if you’re heading to Quito in the near future, let me know and I’ll try to answer your questions about our beautiful city!

Like this:

“I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found the place where me and things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like.” ~Audrey Hepburn: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

We are down to less than four weeks before we head back to Quito, and as usual, my emotions are all over the place. When we’re here, we find ourselves looking at houses for sale, and thinking about where we might possibly live if we came back, and who would Dan work for, and what color would we paint the living room, and what church would we go to, and so on. Then we go back to Quito, and our thoughts turn to how to make our ministry better and what kind of apartment are we looking for and does it really matter if we paint it or not because it isn’t ours…

I don’t know if there is any way to reconcile those two worlds. Ecuador is not the place where we plan to buy a house and be forever, but it IS the place where we need to be right now. Our house that we’ve lived in for 10 years is being sold, and we have to find somewhere else to live. This is the house where we raised our children. It’s the house that we moved into just 8 short months after we arrived on the field. We struggled through the first months and years of missionary life there. We had Christmases and Easters and Thanksgivings and birthdays and vacations there. This house was robbed once, and even though it took months for our sense of security to return, it was still home and we knew that healing from that trauma didn’t mean finding somewhere else to live. It was as if we needed each other–the house and us. When our house sells, it will be torn down. It is old, and it would take way more money to fix things than it would to just start over. And the property is worth probably a half million dollars or so, and we know that a developer will snap it up and raze our memories and put up a high-rise with apartments made of glass and steel, and our house with the aggravating wood floors and the crumbling bricks and the 16 foot ceilings and the huge master bedroom and the crazy plumbing will just go quietly into the night.

Coming back to the US presents it’s own set of realities. This part of our world has changed. People move on. We’ve missed births and deaths and job changes and house changes and kids growing up and church changes…so coming back to Ohio would not be “coming home”. It would present it’s own set of challenges that would be, in their own way, more difficult than the reality of our move to Ecuador. We would be returning to a home that has no history for us. Our three oldest children are grown, and they will probably never actually live with us again. There is no “home where we raised our family” here for us. There are places and people that make things more homelike FOR us, but it’s not OURS. We are always on someone else’s turf, and that’s a harsh reality sometimes. The other reality that would come with returning to the US is that Ohio is no longer necessarily the only place where we feel loved and welcomed. We have people in Georgia and Texas and California and Indiana and Illinois and Arizona…people who love us. So where exactly would “home” be, anyway”?

We are not planning to move back anytime soon, unless the Lord makes it quite clear that it’s time. We are going to head back to Ecuador and pack up our memories and move them to a new place, whether it’s an apartment or a duplex or a house, and we’ll start making some memories there. Dan, Patrick, Oliver and I. Maybe the Lord will finally give us that baby girl that has been tugging on my heartstrings. I don’t know who she is, but in my heart she has a name and she needs a momma and a daddy and some brothers and sisters. Maybe He won’t. Maybe He will bring things to an end and we’ll be back on US soil before we know it. Maybe He will change things up and we’ll end up somewhere else on the planet, doing something that we could never have imagined.

Maybe.

“It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it seems like from then on there’s always this yearning for some place that doesn’t exist. I felt that. Still do. I’m never completely at home anywhere.” ― Danzy Senna